Computing devices are routinely used at work, at home, and everywhere else. Computing devices advantageously enable electronic communication, data sharing (e.g., documents, pictures, music, film, etc.), the use of application-specific software, and access to information for electronic commerce through the Internet and other computer networks.
The term computing device generally refers to desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile computing devices (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell-phones, etc.), as well as any other type of computer system. A computing device typically includes a processor and a memory as well as other types of electronic devices, such as, a disk drive.
A disk drive is composed of many different components that are assembled during a manufacturing process. For example, disk drives typically employ a moveable head actuator to frequently access large amounts of data stored on a disk. A conventional disk drive has a head disk assembly (“HDA”) including at least one magnetic disk (“disk”), a disk clamp to mount the disk to a spindle motor that rapidly rotates the disk, and a head stack assembly (“HSA”) that includes a moveable actuator arm and a head gimbal assembly (“HGA”) with a moveable transducer head for reading and writing data. The HSA forms part of a servo control system that positions the moveable head over a particular track on the disk to read or write information from and to that track, respectively.
An important part of the disk drive manufacturing process is to ensure that when disk drives components are assembled together that the amount of debris and contamination particles is kept to a minimum. Contamination particles and debris may come from misplaced components, scraping, and from the manufacturing devices themselves, such as, the drivers that connect screws to components of the disk drive to assemble the disk drive. Unfortunately, contamination particles and debris may create defects in the disk media or in the other components of the disk drive. Contamination particles and debris during disk drive manufacturing may significantly downgrade the performance of the disk drive or may result in disk drive failure. This is particularly true for small-form-factor disk drives that require very high accuracy assembly techniques and very low contamination.
Further, a significant cost driver in disk drive testing is that there may be pre-existing media defects on one or more of the disks of a disk drive or damage to components of the disk drive. These defects are typically not discovered until self-testing of the disk drive, which occurs as part of a configuration and validation process during disk drive testing. During this testing, if a pre-existing media defect is discovered, this may result in a failure of the disk drive and consequently disk drive yield loss. This adds significant costs to the disk drive manufacturing process.
Accordingly, improved techniques to reduce the creation of contamination particles and debris during the assembly of the components of the disk drive in the disk drive manufacturing process are sought after.